The weather here has been nutso; one day it is in the high 80’s (high 20’s in celsius) and the next it is in the low 60’s (low teens in celsius). A couple of nights we even had a frost warning so we hesitated on planting any flowers or working on the flower beds. However, we could wait no longer; our yard looked tragic and in some definite need of TLC.

And then there was this sidewalk that led to no where. Yup that was going to be fun to remove.

So we got out the shovels and got to work.

Step 1: Make sure you are stylin and choose your OOTD (outfit of the day) wisely. For me that meant jeans, a t-shirt, a sweatshirt (it was chilly out), my trusty superman baseball hat, and these beauties….

When I get working, I’m all business baby! 😉

Step 2: Planning. This year we decided to expand the flower beds by two more feet. Go big or go home I always say. 😉

Before we started, we decided to use a string-line and some beautiful fluorescent pink paint to lay it out and get the general idea of how it would look. Gorgeous….

Step 3: Get to work. Oh boy does this part suck. The ground here is mostly rocks so that makes digging so much more fun. 😉

I, of course, had to stop several times to document and take pictures for the blog. Jason tried to pawn it off as me “taking a break” but I saw it more as having to carefully balance two jobs (blogging and yard work). Oh the torture. 😉

Step 4: Just keep digging…..and digging….and digging…

Step 5: Stop and take a cute picture of Batman racing up the sidewalk (this step is essential to a well manicured lawn)

Step 6: Now comes the fun part…or so I thought. Laying down the black weed-keep-awayer-paper (sorry to get so technical 😉 ) and apply the mulch.

This step is fun for the first couple of minutes because at this point you would rather do anything other than digging. Then you realize just how much work it is and you get back to “this sucks!”

Okay, it really didn’t suck that bad. It was actually cool because now everything started coming together and we could see our hard work paying off.

We went with black mulch this year because I thought it would compliment the green and white siding on our home. I love it.

Here is the problem with yard work: with each beautifying step you take, you find about 10 more things that needs to be done. So our yard list has grown just a little:

Finish mulch beds

add layer of topsoil to even out the front yard and re-seed lawn (right now we have more weeds than grass)

add in some annuals to flower beds and tipsy top planter

landscape back yard and create wrap around driveway

possibly add window boxes to front of house

fence in back yard

DIY tire swing for JBear

DIY in-ground fire pit

much more I’m sure.

Before I sign off I wanted to show you guys this little critter….

This was the first time I have ever seen a salamander up close. Truth be told I didn’t want to touch it, but after JBear picked it up I couldn’t wimp out. Now I’m hooked. I find myself searching for them as I plant. LOL. They are fascinating little creatures.

Anywho, stay tuned for more outdoor fun because I have a ton to share. 🙂